Whitehurst Adds Length, Depth to Bear Receiving Corps

The University of California picked up their second commitment of the new year today, getting a verbal from 6-6/220 CCSF wide receiver Drake Whitehurst this afternoon.

Even though Whitehurst was new on the Cal radar of late, he was no stranger to Cal head coach Sonny Dykes or offensive coordinator Tony Franklin from their days at Louisiana Tech.

"A few weeks before the season ended, Coach Franklin and another coach were at my practice at CCSF, watching me play," said Whitehurst.

"They had me and a couple other receivers run routes with the quarterback throwing to us after practice to get a better look.

"Coach Franklin stayed in contact and with Coach Dykes and Coach Franklin moving over to Cal, they all sat down and liked my film a lot and decided to offer me a scholarship."

An excellent student, with a 3.5 gpa at CCSF and as a full-qualifier out of Lincoln High School in Portland, Whitehurst is planning on being an early enrollee at Cal, starting classes in two weeks and participating in spring practice -an important development with the Bears' depleted wide receiver corps.

Whitehurst will join fellow early entrant Dannon Cavil this spring in Berkeley.

"Richt now, I'm going through the process of having my transcript reviewed and transferred.

"I should be fine to come in this month and enroll.

"Earning a Cal degree is huge. A Cal degree is a major thing, a degree from the number one public university in the country."

With his height, Whitehurst makes an imposing target that's hard for the typical shorter db's to handle, particularly in the red zone on fades and jump balls.

"I try to use my height and my size to my advantage," said Whitehurst. "I also worked a lot on my footwork and have worked on gaining weight to give myself the biggest advantage possible."

At Lincoln, Whitehurst had 68 receptions for nearly 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns and sharing the field with several talented receivers at CCSF, hauled in 35 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns this season for the Rams.

Stay tuned for future updates when Whitehurst hears back on approval for early admission.